Kukla's Korner Hockey

Fans of Olympic hockey had better enjoy it while it lasts. Next month's Winter Games could be the last to include the sport's most-elite players.

In interviews, National Hockey League officials said they see the Olympics largely as an irksome interruption of the regular season, one that offers little upside for their business. They said they may prefer to see their players skip the event after the 2014 Sochi Games.

The 2018 Winter Olympics will be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea, which isn't likely to hold the same appeal for NHL players that Sochi does, or that the 2010 Vancouver Games did. In both of those cases, there were many NHL players from those host nations who were eager to participate.

"Our experience with the Olympics has been a mixed bag—it's not our tournament, we're not in control of it, it's at a time of the year that doesn't work in our regular-season schedule," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said. "On the positive side, we recognize we're on a world-wide stage."

The International Olympic Committee couldn't be reached immediately for comment.

Agreed, JJ. As much caché as the Olympics carry, have a World Cup of hockey during the off season would be better for the league and all of our favorite teams.

Posted by
NHLJeff
from Pens fan in Chicago, IL on 01/08/14 at 09:34 PM ET

the 1996 event was notable for a controversial near-high-stick goal by Canadian-native U.S. forward Brett Hull that led to the Americans’ triumph.

I think her summary of the US victory in 1996 is a bunch of shit. Brett didn’t win the tournament by himself and he did play NCAA hockey at UMD. To say a high stick call caused the US victory disregards that the US won it on Montreal ice.